| Author | Message | ||
     Eboos |
I was working on my bike (added Pingle fuel valve, new coil and wires, and replaced circut breaker), and started it up to see how it ran. I then needed to return something to the dealership, so I got in my car and left. On the way there, I realized that I left my key in the bike in the run position. My trip took about 2 hours, and when I got back I went to start the bike and I got a light turn, then click click click. How can I go about recharging my battery? I read Char's story about charing his bike, and I would rather not repeat that. Do the dealerships charge up batteries? | ||
| Dfishman |
Get a battery tender.They are relativly cheap & charge at a rate that motorcycle batteries prefer.It will cost you less than paying a dealer to charge it for you. | ||
| Patrickh |
if it were "my bike" "I'd" hook her up to a car battery and start her up. Blasphemy to some but I haven't killed an electrical system yet | ||
| Cowboy |
Jump start it ride for an hr. problem solved. | ||
| Eboos |
I tried grounding to the frame and to the exhaust, neither worked. Should I ground to the negitive terminal? | ||
| Iamike |
One of the things that I have noticed about our charging system is that it doesn't quite give the battery a full charge. The manual says that just sitting there a fully charged battery is 12.6v. Mine have always been about 12.3-12.4. This may seem minor but when a battery isn't given a full charge once in awhile the cells end up at different voltages and then you have problems. You should make sure that once in awhile charge it over 14v and that should equalize the cells. My 2 amp charger works fine for that. I don't know what a Battery Tender does. | ||
| Stretch67 |
Good point, Iamike. I've been using a trickle charger for years, and haven't seemed to have problems. What is the advantage of a Battery Tender over a trickle charger? By the way, the following is a public service announcement from your friendly neighborhood BadWeB fireman... Please folks, do not put your (insert vehicle here) battery on a charger inside your garage or shop, then go off to run errands or to sleep. I ran a fire call a couple years ago where a fellow hooked his charger up to his bike, then left to run errands. He returned home a couple hours later to find us extinguishing what was left of his house. He lost everything in his attached garage and the entire left half of his house, his car, bike, mower, motorhome, and his pets. Everything in the other half of the house wasn't burned, but was ruined due to heat, smoke, and water damage. Until that day, I used to charge batteries in my attached garage all the time. But never since. [/preach] I'm Stretch, and I approve of this message.  | ||
| Odinbueller |
A battery tender monitors state of charge on the battery as to not overcharge it, thus causing you to extinguish another garage  Either the H-D branded or Deltran battery tenders work great. If you can afford it, get the 5 amp charger/tender. Will float between 5 and 1.25 amp charge depending on how depleted the battery is, then switches to float mode once fully charged. And yes, always ground your battery tender leads to the negative battery post if at all possible. It is the best ground available on the bike. Most tenders come with a harness you can hook up to the posts, so it's just a quick plug-in setup to keep your battery fully charged. They also prolong the life of the battery too. My 2002 S3T is still on the original battery. Chris | ||
| Eboos |
Thanks everyone. I just got a Battery Tender Plus. It's charging now. | ||
| Eboos |
Wow, 9 hours on the charger and the light is still red. | ||
| Eboos |
If this is an 18amp/hr battery, this could take up to 18 hours to charge depending on the state of discharge? Yikes! |
